Coal at the tipping point: CLF pushes for shutdown of region's obsolete coal-fired power plants.

• Position: Conservation Law Foundation - Cover story

New England has some of the nation's most progressive clean energy laws--yet it still relies on energy from seven outdated coal-fired power plants. Our dependence on these dirty, obsolete money pits is threatening our environment, our economy and our health. However, across the country, coat is at a tipping point. Cheap natural gas and increased renewable energy generation are decreasing demand for coal power. Meanwhile, the EPA is strengthening anti-pollution laws that will require plants to make costly upgrades. With these factors converging, CLF is taking its coat advocacy to a new level with Coal-free New England - an all-out campaign to end New England's coal addiction for good.

PERSISTENCE IN A LONG FIGHT

CLF has been targeting New England's coat plants for over two decades with a successful combination of Clean Air and Clean Water Act litigation, regulatory pressure, policy initiatives and grassroots organizing. As a result, in 2001, Massachusetts implemented the "Filthy Five" regulations. Named for the state's live most-polluting power plants, they established the strictest power plant emissions limits in the nation,

CLF has championed enforcement of these Laws, first for the Brayton Point Power Plant in Somerset, MA, and more recently for the nearby Somerset Station plant. After the state issued a permit that would allow NRG, the plant's owner, to extend the life of Somerset Station by installing experimental technology without the required environmental review, CLF and a group of Somerset residents led a successful appeal to overturn the approval of that permit. In 2009, NRG was ordered to shut down or repower the plant in January 2010. The plant closed on January 2, 2010 and has not reopened.

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SALEM HARBOR STATION ON THE BRINK

Today, CLF is focused on exposing those same vulnerabilities to hasten the demise of the remaining plants. Seventy miles north of Somerset sits Salem Harbor Station, a 60-year-old plant in Salem, MA owned by Dominion Energy. Ten years ago, CLF began pushing for the shutdown of Salem, one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in Massachusetts, releasing almost two million tons of CO per year.

With strong grassroots support from MA Representative Lori Ehrlich and local organizations such as SAFE, HealthLink and Clean Water Action, CLF has steadily chipped away at Salem Harbor on multiple regulatory levels. The groups have earned important incremental victories...